Heidi Julavits credits her habit of keeping a diary with convincing her that writing might be a viable career path. In her new book, The Folded Clock, she returns to the format of her childhood, crafting a lengthy diary meant to stand on its own as a narrative. In the Times, Eula Bissreads the book and reflects on our notions of the self. Related: Rachel Signeron the Julavits/Sheila Heti/Leanne Shapton project Women in Clothes.

“The meanings we assign to hoods have everything to do with what we regard as frightening and dangerous, and where we think that power resides.” Alison Kinney on her Hood, the latest book in the Object Lessons series.

Expats of all stripes have trouble defining the word “home,” which is true even when the expat is someone like James Wood, who left England for America in the ‘90s and set up a life for himself in Massachusetts. In the LRB, he describes the odd pain of emigration, lamenting that his “English reality” has faded into memory. (You could also read Charles Finchon trying to live up to Wood’s standards.)

Here’s an odd scenario straight out of a Thomas Pynchon plotline: in the course of fact-checking a review of Pynchon’s new novel, Alex Yuhasfound himself emailing a person known only as “The Great Quail.”